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title, categories, types, origins, years, cpus, params
title categories types origins years cpus params
Atari 520 / 1040 STe
Computers
Home Computer
U.S.A.
1990
Motorola MC 68000
name image company company_name specs tabs photos hardware emulators links docs comments related oc_id source
520 / 1040 STe /media/museum/photos/atari_1040_ste_with_box.jpg /companies/atari Atari
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NAME 520 / 1040 STe
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MANUFACTURER Atari
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TYPE Home Computer
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ORIGIN U.S.A.
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YEAR 1990
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KEYBOARD Full-stroke keyboard with editing and numeric keypads
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CPU Motorola MC 68000
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SPEED 8 mHz
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RAM 4 x SIMM sockets - From 512 KB up to 4 Mb
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ROM 192 KB (256 KB in later versions)
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TEXT MODES 40 or 80 chars. x 25 lines (bitmapped graphics)
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GRAPHIC MODES 320 x 200 (16 colors) / 640 x 200 (4 colors) / 640 x 400 (monochrome)
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COLORS 4096
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SOUND 3 voices + 1 noise channel, 8 octaves + two 8 bit PCM channels
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I/O PORTS Cardridge, Midi (in, out), Centronics, RS232c, Hard Disk, Floppy disk, RGB, Joystick, mouse, 2 x analogue controllers, Stereo RCA jacks
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BUILT IN MEDIA 3.5'' disk-drive
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OS TOS + GEM
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POWER SUPPLY Built-in PSU
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PRICE 520 STE : 396 (France, dec.1989)
photos
hardware
emulators
links
docs
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THE STE PROTOTYPE (?) Someone from Atari France gave us this photo and told us it was the case of the Atari STe prototype. This case was designed by Ira Velinsky, Director of Industrial Design at Atari, who made the cases of the Commodore 500 / 600 / 700 series and the Commodore Ultimax. The "Macintosh-like" unit on the right is the PS3000, a prototype combination of a SC1224 Monitor and a SF354 disk drive.\ One of this case (one the right) looked like the Macintosh ! **Malcolm Ramage** adds:\ The prototype was of the eST, an MC68020 prototype, which may have been an early version of the TT030.\ Not much information exists about this machine, only a few pictures have been leaked and it's not known if any functioning hardware still exists. Although this information was disclosed by several magazines, it was told us by "someone" that this case was only an exercise in style for a future Atari machine. No card was developed to fit this case. /media/museum/photos/atari_ste_proto.jpg
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SF-354 Single density disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_sf354-diskdrive_1.jpg
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SF-314 Disk-drive /media/museum/hardware/atari_st-disk-drive_sf314.jpg
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CUMANA DRIVE /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_cumanadrive_1.jpg
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SUPRADRIVE 20 Mb hard-disk /media/museum/hardware/atari_supradrive_20mb.jpg
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170MB QUANTUM HARD-DRIVE This unit has an ICD Host Adapter. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_quamtum_hd170.jpg
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ATARI MEGAFILE 30 This hard-drive has a 30Mb capacity. /media/museum/hardware/atari_st_megafile30_1.jpg
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INSIDE THE MEGAFILE 30 **(1)** Seagate MFM 30 MB hard-disk Type ST-238\ **(2)** Power supply\ **(3)** Logical board\ **(4)** Power and disk access LED's /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_insidemegafile_1.jpg
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ATARI UNIVERSAL MODEM The SX212 modem was one of the rare Atari peripherals that could be used with all the Atari computers range, from the 400/800 series up to the Falcon. It had both the Atari I/O ports for the 8-bit systems and a standard RS-232 connector for ST's It was a 300/1200 baud modem compatible with the well-known Hayes 'AT' commands.\ Cable and software was sold separately, depending of the computer used. /media/museum/hardware/atari_520_modemsx212_1.jpg
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SML-804 Laser printer The SLM-804 was actually a Kyocera F1000 printer but without neither on-board processor and memory nor buttons other than the on/off switch. It was first delivered with the Mega ST but could be connected on all of the ST series computers through a dedicated interface box.\ The printer used the processing power and the RAM memory of the ST computer for printing at 8 pages per minute and 300 DPI. The paper tray held 250 sheets. Thanks to **Francois Michaud** who donated us this printer. /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slm804printer_s1.jpg
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SMLC-804 Laser printer interface This interface allowed the SML-804 printer to be connected to any Atari ST holding at least 1 MB RAM. /media/museum/hardware/atari_megast_slmcinterface_s1.jpg
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Pacifist ! http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ MS DOS Pretty good emulator
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Emulators Online http://www.emulators.com/ Windows Demo of Gemulator, a commercial product from BraSoft.
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Gemulator http://www.emulators.com/gemul8r.htm Windows
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MagiCPC http://www.application-systems.de/magicpc/index.html Windows
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Pacifist http://www.pacifist.fatal-design.com/ Windows The best Atari ST emulator
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SainT http://saint.atari.org Windows The best Atari ST Emulator !
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Steem http://steem.atari.st/ Windows Excellent emulator for 1040/520 STE !
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STonX Homepage http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stemu.html Windows The Atari ST Emulator for Linux/X windows
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Toad Computers' Atari Central http://www.ataricentral.com/ Windows Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
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Tos2Win http://www.aixit.com/tos2win/ Windows A good Atari GEM Emulator !
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TOSBOX Atari emulation homepage http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/4448/ Windows
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WinSTon http://www.winston.fatal-design.com/ Windows An emulator for Win95 / Win NT
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MagiCMac http://www.application-systems.de/magicmac/index.html Apple
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NoSTalgia & PowerST http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ Apple
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NoSTalgia The AtariST Emulator for the Macintosh http://users.skynet.be/sky39147/ Apple
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Toad Computers' Atari Central http://www.ataricentral.com/ Apple Demo of Magic, a commercial emulator for PC/Windows and Macintosh.
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STonX Homepage http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/nino/stonx.html Unix / Linux
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Atari ST Emulator http://www.atari-st.lovely.net/ Other platform Written in Java !
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ARAnyM HTTP://ARANYM.ATARI.ORG Multiplatform Multiplatform project
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Hatari http://hatari.sourceforge.net/ Multiplatform Hatari is an Atari ST emulator for Linux, BSD, BeOS, Mac OS X and other systems that are supported by the SDL library. More precisely, Hatari is an adaption of the WinSTon source code to the SDL library.
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Application Systems Heidelberg http://members.aol.com/ashinfo/index.html
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Atari & Commodore Home Computer Museum http://www.best.com/~hmk/
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Atari Demo Scene http://rzserv2.fh-lueneburg.de:8080/Demo_Scene
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Atari game links http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/cache/369/index.html
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Atari Information http://www.qnx.com/~chrish/Atari/index.html
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Atari Music Network http://www.atarimusic.net/ Atari Music Network welcomes and celebrates all vintage digital musicians no matter what their computer
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Atari ST Demo History http://wwwbrauer.in.tum.de/~brandtf/ataridemos.html
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Atari ST Download Area http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Services/PDA/atari.shtml Atari 400/800/XL/XE & ST/TT/Falcon Software download page
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Atari Vaporware Museum http://www.atari.nu/
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ATARI.ORG http://www.atari.org/ Looking for something on any Atari machine ? Follow the links !
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Atari-WEB http://web.cnam.fr/Comp/Atari/
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Calculating Pi and Atari ST-Falcon http://www.ast.univie.ac.at/~wasi/PI/stuart_lyster/stlib.htm
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CareBears Online http://hem1.passagen.se/carebear/
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Centek Homepage http://www.centek.fr
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Dead Hackers Society http://www.dhs.nu/ Atari demo scene
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Elysium Atari & TOS Compatible Pages http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/aseabrook/a_index.htm
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Emulators Online http://www.emulators.com/
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Gem programmer's page http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/gem/
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Little Green Desktop http://www.atari.st/ Largest Atari ST ressource!
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Medusa computer http://www.kingx.com/kingx/medusa/thes.html You can still buy an Atari ST family clone computer
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MiNTOS Distribution http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/~steve/mintos.html
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Musique.Atari.Org HTTP://MUSIQUE.ATARI.ORG Web site dedicated to the ATARI and the Music...
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Network ST - The Atari Network - Homepage http://www.nest.demon.co.uk/index.htm
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oAESis http://www.dtek.chalmers.se/~d2cg/oaesis/
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OXO Concept Home Page http://www.oxo.ch/
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Planet IRATA http://www.http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Vista/3015
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PLOPBOX - Atari music archive and jukebox http://www.plopbox.net/ listen to atari tunes directly from your browser
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Polish Atari Wikipedia http://atariki.krap.pl A lot of info about Atari (in polish)
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ST Anwender Bern http://my.blackpoint.ch/stab/ Atari ST Usergroup Bern (Swiss)
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The Atari Historical Society http://www.atarimuseum.com/ The complete history of Atari Arcade and Home games and computers. Complete site with pictures, commercials (streaming), and full text articles. Amazing site !
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The Atari ST Quick FAQ http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/ST/
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The Atari WebRing Homepage http://atariwebring.home.ml.org/
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The Atari WebRing Homepage http://b.webring.com/hub?ring=atari Useful !
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The New Funkyware Generation http://www.megacom.net/~q-funk/
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The Ultimate ATARI Resource http://www.atari.org
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The Wonderful World of Atari Computing http://inet.uni-c.dk/~netop/atari.htm
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What is TOS http://www.vanc.igs.net/~roughley/tos_main.htm
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Index of -~archive-atari- http://www.umich.edu/~archive/atari/
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Web Wiz CAPTCHA http://www.webwizcaptcha.com French forum
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ATARI 520 ST OWNER'S MANUAL http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarist/index.htm /media/museum/docs/couvs/atari_520st_user_doc.jpg [**ATARI 520 ST OWNER'S MANUAL**](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/atarist/index.htm)written by Atari  compiled/archived by Daves Old Computers\  type of document : PDF\  size : 5 Mb\  source : [Daves Old Computers](http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield) **... READ THE ONLINE VERSION BY CLICKING BELOW :**
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Andy Murray Thursday 27th January 2011 Atari 1040 ST was the bomb. Mine quit working in the early nineties because we experienced an Argentine ant infestation in our yard and they came in and built a colony in the disk drive. I still have all my software. I would love to buy a new one. Best games ever! Lots of EA stuff and a stunning VGA monitor which was hot stuff for 1987.
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Jeff Tuesday 3rd April 2018 I am the proud owner of a 1040 STE and I have just scratched the surface of what this system can do. Granted there is no comparison to today''s computers, but for its generation of systems, I feel it is the best of my 16-bit collection. Even better than the Amiga 1200...and I own one of those too.
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Ton Friday 12th August 2016 I own 2 1040 STEs, and 2 Mega ST with all the hard-drives, etc. The ''tightest'' computer for MIDI sequencing up to this day. I run Cubase MIDI, and Hybrid-Arts SMPTE-TRACK ST software, not to mention Dr.Ts, Sweet 16, etc. . One of the MEGAs also runs the ADAP-2 editing system and sampling system to this day. A bit ''slow'' but steady. None of my PCs or Macs can do as much for MIDI as the Ataris. I am keeping them all. Cheers.
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Harald Friday 7th March 2014 I notice in the user addedum below the article it says that monocrome was only available in ST High on the TV output. You couldn''t display ST High on a TV, for that you needed a monochrome VGA monitor like the SM124 or a compatible monitor.
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Charles Rose, AKA, Dubwise007 (England, Northamptonshire) Monday 30th January 2012 I still have and use my AtariSte1040 for building my tunes $dub$ not dubstep. My Atari is now 22years old and i still use it, but with the way of the world wide web now, i can not get my music to any format that people can listen too online, and so i am and have been looking for a emulator so i can use and up to date version of Que base to mix my music to a standard that others can hear online, my e mail addres is tuffgongace@yahoo.co.uk if you have possiible links that may be of use to me,, only ones that have been tried and tested please.
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Dark Willow (UK) Saturday 10th December 2011 Just a correction to the article. The TOS version in the STe was "STe TOS", v1.60 and v1.62. Rainbow TOS was v1.04 and was for Mega ST and STfm systems. Also mention should be made of how the STe differs from it''s predecessor systems. Although they look similar to the end user, the STe is considerably upgraded. Expandability was improved by memory being installed in standard 30 pin SIMMS. 4 slots were provided, allowing the user to install up to 4mb RAM without needing to modify the motherboard or install any kits/hacks (which had been the nightmare of anyone who had a 520STfm - like yours truly did). Sound was also much improved, stereo 8-bit DMA sound rather than the Yamaha YM2149 "chip tunes" sound used before (which was kept alongside the improved sound for backwards compatibility) though only a few dedicated audio applications and "STe Enhanced" games took advantage of it, as most developers didn''t want to lock out the large market of stock ST / Mega ST users.
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Happysad (England) Thursday 22nd March 2007 The ST is an amazing machine. I still have several in use running Cubase. I find the ST to be much more reliable than a PC or MAC when it come to this software. I have a 4mb STE with TOS1.62, a MEGA ST4, a 1mb ST (a bit of an oddity as it has both floppy and TV modulator!). Long live the ATARI ST (and Sensible Soccer !)
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Philip Trott (Kent) Thursday 14th April 2005 My Atari STe still works the only game that I found that will not work on it is Captain Blood everything else works fine I upgraded my STe to 1024 KB which helped with cutting down loading times and allowed for less drive access
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Darren (u) Friday 8th April 2005 Floppy drive is replaceable by any disk drive off the shelf, BUT you have to cut out a new hole in the case, no video output? from both the monitor out AND TV out? either one or the other should work, is the TV tuned to the correct channel? what kind of monitor are you using?
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Dino (France) Wednesday 16th March 2005 3 version of STE exist,\ - no Upgradale Memory\ - A bugged TOS 1.6\ - Correct TOS 1.62
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D WOOD (ENGLAND) Thursday 16th December 2004 I HAVE RECENTLY AQUIRED A 520 STE[UPGRADEABLE] ONLY TROUBLE IS NO VIDEO OUTPUT COMING THROUGH TO MONITOR OR TV BUT THERE IS SOUND,ANY HELP OR ADVICE APPRECIATED THANKING YOU IN ANTICIPATION!!!
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A Hodson (England) Friday 6th February 2004 How can I fix the floppy drive?
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fredrik kjelman (norway) Tuesday 2nd September 2003 question: is it possible to change the resolution on the atari ste, and if possible, how?
/museum/atari-130-st-260-st
/museum/atari-4160-ste
/museum/atari-520-1040-stf-stfm
/museum/atari-520-st-st-stm
/museum/atari-falcon-030
/museum/atari-falcon-030-microbox
/museum/atari-fx-1-sparrow
/museum/atari-mega-st
/museum/atari-mega-ste
/museum/atari-st-book
/museum/atari-stacy
/museum/atari-stylus-st-pad
/museum/atari-tt-030
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https://web.archive.org/web/20230530085305/http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?c=24 2023-05-30

The Atari STe is the successor of the Atari STf (The 'e' stands for 'enhanced') and is almost fully compatible with the STf.
In september 1986, Atari decided to make a successor to the STf. They planned to equip it with enhanced video features : Atari said then that the STe will have a 640 x 400 with 16 colors among 4096 and a 320 x 200 with 256 colors among 4096 graphic modes. Unfortunately, eventually, the STe will have none of these graphic modes.

The new features are :
- a new version of the OS ("Rainbow" TOS 1.6 and later, 1.62),
- a Blitter chip to quick perform memory moves (it is the the Mega STf one),
- the video chip (Shifter) has been enhanced: the STe can perform, as the Amiga, hardware scrolling in all directions and it is possible to write into the video counters. It also handle 4096 colors instead of 512, unfortunately, it can only display a maximum of 16 of them (without trick).
- 'phase lock' of the video output to an external video source permitting direct linking to genlocking device.
- It has enhanced sound features too: two 8 bit PCM (Pulse Coded Modulation) channels which can replay stereo sound at 6.25, 12.5, 25, or 50 KHz and which can be mixed with the 3 FM channels.

Despite its new and interesting features, the Atari STe was a flop in the marketplace. The STf market was too important and the software editors (especially game editors) didn't sell STe versions of their products.

Not long after this, Atari launched the Mega STe to replace the Mega STf.

There was an interesting variation on the STe in the R&D labs of Atari, called the STe+, which had an AMD 286 chip and a small IDE hard drive built in. Quite why this was abandoned nobody really knows, but a number of working prototypes were found in Atari's Mexico office when Atari finally blinked out of existence and have appeared on ebay from time to time.


Contributors: Malcolm Ramage.

PC emulator by James Cronin:
I had a 512 version of the STe, which we later upgraded to 1024 by the purchase of additional memory. We also later purchased a second floppy drive for it. As you said the main limitation to it was the graphics which you could switch between High, Medium and Standard. The High mode was only in black and white on the TV output. The nice thing was that they had a phono composite video output on them which allowed them to easily be hooked upto a projector / large TV.
One interesting thing we fitted to ours was a PC emulator. There were a number avaliable during the lifespan of the machine, either hardware or software. the unit we chose was called ST-AT16. It consisted of an aditional card which had an AMD 286 16Mhz processor on it, and a socket for the Motorola chip this pluged into the main processor socket, and you put the motorola chip onto this card as well. Two disks were used to swap it into PC mode and you then booted dos from here.
It was painfuly slow, and as we had no hard drive was very limited as most IBM compatible software that was beign produced at this time required a hard drive to run. Te fact that the graphics were now outdated soon brought it to the end of its life. However it became a glorified typewriter for a few more years. Software wise all we really did was run ST FM software on it and only had one piece specific for the STe which was a midi program (name slips my mind).
It was after around 4 years of good service replaced by a philips 286 with a 1024X768 X 256 colour display. The only thing that ever went wrong was the phono socket for the TV out came lose on the board, but this was quickly soldered back on.